In This Life, The Greatest Star In The Universe

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: Rxel

Chapter 216

Woojoo was glad he was wearing a mask.

Otherwise, his stunned face would have been plastered on the internet news article photos.

‘What’s going on?’

‘What is it, Hyung?’

His kids stuck to him with confused eyes, so he whispered ‘Song Discovery Team’ to them.

Soon, they had ‘Ah…!’ expressions on their faces.

As Woojoo expected, the reporters gathered here seemed to be because of the Song Discovery Team.

“Did you watch the show?”

“How was it today after watching the show?”

“Hey, buddy. You have to answer when someone talks to you.”

Unknown reporters approached them.

They were mostly from small media outlets, and they just bowed their heads and said ‘Thank you’ to their questions.

They had nothing special to say.

They hadn’t seen it yet.

They kept shouting ‘Watch the original broadcast!’ at the press conference, but they couldn’t say ‘We haven’t seen it yet because of our schedule’.

It might be different if it was a large media outlet like Entertainment IN, which they often met with.

Small media outlets were the ones to be most careful of in the industry.

The big ones would coordinate their articles with the agency’s PR team unless it was a scoop or a serious scandal. The small ones didn’t care.

They wrote whatever they heard, whether it was a rumor or not.

The reporter who wrote a ridiculous article about Woojoo last Chuseok was also from a small media outlet.

“Thank you!”

They finished greeting them and quickly went outside to the first floor and got into the parked vehicle.

“Whew…”

They were only serious for a moment when they got into the car.

As soon as the door closed, they all took off their masks and made a fuss.

“What is this? What is this? What is this?”

“Hyung, the reporters…”

“Seriously. Why are they all gathered here?”

They smiled smugly, like attention seekers.

At first, Woojoo was going to ask the manager Hyungs, but they were on the phone with the PR Team, so he searched online.

While the cool breeze came in through the window as they drove across the Yeongjong Bridge, five smartphones flashed in the dark.

And then.

Ziiing-

The phones vibrated like crazy, as if the five-member rock band was headbanging.

When they turned off the airplane mode, the messages and notifications that had been piled up until now popped up.

“Wow…”

There must have been something.

It was similar to when they appeared on Patissiere Korea, no, even more messages were piled up.

They glanced at the messages and looked at each other.

“Hey, this is getting a lot of good feedback, isn’t it?”

“I wasn’t expecting much from today’s first broadcast. The competition is next week anyway…” Rihyuk showed his phone and said, “But look at this. It’s a lot.”

It was enough that the guy who was famous for having a narrow social circle among them kept getting messages on his phone. Well.

But their kid had so many acquaintances…

“What is this? Why do they keep talking to me when we’re not close?”

“…”

“I can’t do this. I have to add them to the block list.”

Well, that was that.

Woojoo looked at him with half-giving up eyes and turned on the internet.

Meanwhile, Woojoo kept hearing Minki Hyung’s voice in the passenger seat.

“Really? Really? …Oh, really? Yes, yes.”

He was talking to Seokhwan Hyung, who was in another car, and Woojoo was curious what they were talking about.

But the question was soon answered.

As soon as he entered the entertainment section of the portal, the title caught his eye.

-Today’s first broadcast ‘PBS Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team!’ … No. 1 in the same time slot

When Woojoo clicked on the article, the first thing he saw was ‘With a rating of 11.6%, it beat HBS’s competing program and ranked first in the same time slot…’.

“Wow…”

…This was crazy.

His heart thumped.

Nationwide rating of 11.6 percent. That was a lot.

It was only because Around the World With Dice maintained a crazy average rating of 20% that the second-ranked variety show, PBS’s ‘Mr. Producer’, was still hovering around 15%.

But the new and less-known variety show had 11%.

It was a great result for the first episode, considering how much PBS had poured out promotional materials.

“Wow…”

“Are you looking at the same article as me? It says it got 11% from the first episode.”

“That’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Woojoo felt unreal for a moment. He pressed down on his trembling fingers and scrolled down.

He focused on the part that started with ‘The highlight of today was the meeting between New Black and the veteran singer Noh Jaehyun.’

[ …The awkward meeting between the rookie singers and the veteran singer quickly turned into a warm and friendly atmosphere. They looked like a family as they did chores together, and they had serious conversations about music that transcended age. It left a deep impression… ]

The praise continued on and on.

Woojoo felt strangely embarrassed.

They were just doing their job, but there were all kinds of compliments attached to it.

There were stories about other singers in the middle, but the focus of the broadcast and the article was on them.

Woojoo could hear his heart pounding in his ears.

“…”

He swallowed his dry saliva and scrolled down the article with the broadcast captures to the comment section.

He gulped again at the number of 683 comments.

Should he look or not?

He was worried that there might be some hateful comments.

He fiddled with the black goat soup AI ad between the article and the comments, and made a decision.

Let’s see.

The reporter wrote the article with a ‘ㅋthey did well today!’ tone, so there wouldn’t be any insults below, right?

The best-ranked comments came into view.

-It was unfair how I had a prejudice against them because they were idol singers. They worked hard and it was nice to see.

…That was a compliment.

Woojoo swept his chest and skimmed the rest.

-Don’t know about their skills, but the kids looked kind.

-It was decent for the first episode.

-My mother is a fan of Noh Jaehyun and she really liked today’s broadcast. It might become a healing show for her.

-The editing style seemed to appeal to the adults. My father watched TV for the first time in a whileㅋㅋ.

-Looking forward to next week’s competition.

-I liked the way they gave the story before the competition. It was my taste. They did a good job of capturing the charm of the show, where the viewers can see the intention of the song and the meeting between the original singer and the performer.

Woojoo understood what it meant when the article said that the ratings of the competitive show didn’t drop much.

Unlike HBS’s competitive show, which was full of 2030’s tastes and internet memes, this show seemed to attract the attention of the parents’ generation who didn’t watch TV much at the same time.

Something that the whole family could watch, something that the adults could enjoy.

The comments were better than Woojoo expected, too good.

There were positive reviews about the program in general, but more than anything, there were good comments about them, the performers.

“Hyung, why do you look like that?”

“…”

But there was a reason why Woojoo couldn’t smile at these compliments. It was because of the comments that took up half of the best.

–ㅋㅋ, Non-Alcoholic Drinksㅋ

-Today I watched it with my family and laughed so hard at the Non-Alcoholic Drinks, haha

–ㅋㅋ, the Non-Alcoholic guy and the sleepyheads

-I teared up because of the background music and grabbed a tissue, but I wiped the saliva that came out from laughing

-I was watching it seriously and then burst out laughing ㅋㅋ

-Today, it was Jenmin who carried the show

Woojoo looked at the ceiling.

“…”

Why was he like this?

He should be happy, but this burning feeling in his throat.

The feeling of becoming ‘the idol who thought he was drunk after drinking non-alcoholic drinks.jpg’ in front of the whole nation…

It was fresh. It was thrilling. It was not good.

The night view and the neon sign boards that came in from outside looked blurry.

“Hyung, cheer up.”

Bijoo comforted Woojoo from the side.

“Thanks to you, Hyung, we made a black history and got on the real-time search.”

“We got on the real-time search?”

Junghyun handed Woojoo his phone.

The search terms that had fallen out of the ranking after the broadcast ended and some time had passed came into his view.

‘New Black Woojoo’

‘Patissiere Korea Jenmin’

‘Non-Alcoholic’

‘New Black’

Some people must have forgotten his name and searched for ‘Patissiere Korea Jenmin’.

Woojoo swallowed his tears as he saw ‘Woo Jenmin’ on the related search terms on the portal profile.

“But why Non-Alcoholic…?”

“People posted a lot of questions on the knowledge board after the broadcast.”

“…?”

This time, Rihyuk showed Woojoo.

[Q. Can you get drunk from non-alcoholic drinks???]

Hello. I’m a fifth-grader.

I saw a scene where someone got drunk from non-alcoholic drinks on a show today. Is that possible?

(Can I use this as a topic for my school science project?)

Wow. Even elementary students were interested in…

No, that wasn’t it.

Then he found one answer that caught his eye.

[A. No, you can’t. There are some weird people out there.]

Woojoo asked.

“Why is this the only answer with a different background color?”

“That’s because, Hyung. When you log in, the posts you write have a different color, right?”

“Oh, really? This…”

Woojoo narrowed his eyes as he saw the answer time five minutes ago.

“Hey, Seo Rihyuk.”

“Me, I just satisfied the curiosity of a curious elementary student. It’s not a lie.”

“You were slandering me on the internet, huh? Come here.”

As Woojoo stretched out his hand, Rihyuk hid behind Junghyun.

Then he whispered to Junghyun quickly, “Junghyun Hyung. Take that old man away.”

“…”

“No?”

“Sorry. I only listen to Woojoo Hyung.”

“…”

Woojoo smiled contentedly.

“Junghyun.”

“Yes.”

“Bring me that rude crane.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

The crane that was caught by the bear flapped its wings as it came to him.

And he gave it a slap.

“Ouch!”

***

At the same time.

A Soufflé in the back seat of a taxi looked at his phone and smiled.

‘I love it.’

It was because of the reaction of the idol community.

After PBS’s Legendary Song Discovery aired, the Soufflés were more confident and posted more sales posts.

It was because public opinion had turned around to some extent.

The actual competition hadn’t started yet, but when they introduced themselves in front of the singers, there was a scene where New Black sang a song.

Right then, other singers, including Cha Woohyun, praised them, saying, “They have talent, they are really good.”

Along with the sincere endorsement of the other singers, the song that aired on the actual broadcast was also very excellent.

They had good enough skills to make no one question why they were cast.

-I can tell it’s a live performance by the sound of their breathing in between;;;

-The harmony is awesome

-What… Didn’t they say they regressed in their live performance yesterday?

-Looks like they deleted itㅋ

-Where are those who were biting and bashing them??

-I didn’t read the posts because they were annoyingly fighting with the haters, but they are good

-They are good ㅇㅇ

-It’s nonsense to bash them with their skills… Weren’t they famous for their skills here in the first place?

-But there’s nothing to bash them with

-They only have black history

-I was complaining about their flow being weird yesterday… But they had a lot of diseases too

-The ridicule turned into admiration

-My parents asked me what their names were, I wish my hometown came out while watching, I also thought the PD edited it well

Those who had raised controversy about New Black had disappeared.

They erased their posts as if nothing had happened.

But thinking of their expressions when they deleted them, unlike when they wrote them with excitement, it made Soufflé’s cheeks twitch.

It felt like carbonation was running through his veins.

He could still see the comments that were shaking their fingers and cursing in the comment section, but the impact was zero.

‘It’s a hit.’

They still introduced the singers, so the production team did their best, they said they would burst when they entered the competition and stood in front of the audience.

He couldn’t help but laugh at their claims.

He didn’t feel like they would fail in the competition either.

And the public reaction was so good that the antis couldn’t do anything.

The sight of Woojoo explaining the songs like a genius with sparkling eyes from the song selection.

The chemistry of the Non-Alcoholic group, including Rihyuk and Noh Jaehyun.

They also highlighted their professional aspects, such as arranging songs and doing housework, including organizing books.

-I watched it with my dad for the first time in a long time and the reaction was good

-It’s a singer competition program, but each song has a story, so it’s good, I think it’ll be easier to get into it when I watch the live competition

-My dad’s favorite entertainment show in one episode

-It seems like a good show to watch with family, the tone is calm… It was fun anyway. The cast’s chemistry was good too

-I’m looking forward to next weekㅋㅋ

-I’m thinking of getting my parents a ticket to watch it, but this show will be so competitive when it airs…???

Soufflés felt proud.

Unlike the previous broadcasts where they appeared as guests, this was the first terrestrial entertainment show where New Black became the main character.

And it was 11 percent ratings from the first broadcast.

And.

‘There’s something.’

New Black and Noh Jaehyun had good chemistry, but the other singers’ parts were also fun.

But looking at the editing direction, it seemed to amplify the anticipation.

Every time Woojoo’s arranging scene came out, they skipped it and made him curious, saying, ‘What is it?’

In the preview, New Black’s appearance was very short.

As if hiding the highlight.

‘I’m looking forward to it…’

He had a strong feeling that something was going to explode.

When he felt anticipation and happiness that New Black’s public recognition, which had been lacking until now, was building up.

“Cough-!”

He was startled by the sound that the taxi driver made from the driver’s seat.

The Soufflé asked the driver, who was coughing as if something had gotten into his throat while drinking water.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes. Well… Cough!”

He was a taxi driver who let out a hollow laugh.

“Why are you like that?”

“The car that was parked next to me just now. I turned my head and the window was open, and there were some weird faces…”

He said that he saw some pale faces in the dark, laughing and dancing a funny dance with their smartphones.

It was like a dance of fools.

“But they danced well. The young ones were handsome…”

“Really?”

As he watched the van’s tail lights fade into the distance, the Soufflé shrugged his shoulders.

“What a bunch of weirdos.”

He finished his sentence and looked at the gif of New Black on his phone with a satisfied smile.

***

Wednesday, February 18th.

The first day of the Lunar New Year holiday and the day of the second round of ‘Challenge, Legendary Song Discovery Team!’.

“Wow-!”

It was a hotter atmosphere than the first round.

The broadcast had definitely made an impact.

It was a completely different vibe from when they came to the public hall last time.

-Please welcome, New Black!

As soon as they entered, a louder cheer greeted them.

Every time they grabbed the microphone, curious eyes lingered on them.

And sure enough.

They also got a great response when they performed first.

Every time they danced and sang in bow ties and tuxedos, applause and cheers flowed from everywhere.

Unlike the serious and focused last time, this time they lightened up the mood of the audience with a fun and cheerful performance, and the reaction was good. The stage quality was also high, but they felt that their popularity had increased.

Reflecting that atmosphere, the celebrity panelists also seemed to want to give them more comments.

The production team also seemed to want to promote them.

According to Seokhwan Hyung, the PD received the ratings chart and it seemed that the ratings had risen slightly when New Black and Teacher Noh Jaehyun came out.

The only one who wasn’t happy was Jo Yuri Band, but that was understandable.

“…”

Woojoo was a bit embarrassed too.

He noticed that one of the cameras that was in charge of Jo Yuri Band had moved to their side this time.

Since the rehearsal, Jo Yuri had bitten his lips with an angry face, but they didn’t talk to each other.

It was another opportunity to experience the saying that the entertainment industry was cold.

After the fierce competition, a new winner was born today.

-The singer who won 37.7 percent of the total votes is… Lisa! Congratulations!

The petite musical actress wrapped herself in a red Roman cloak and smiled happily.

It was a stage that she had prepared with determination to make up for the last time when the children’s song ‘Ttolong Ttolong’ was played.

They were also amazed by the stage that involved dozens of dancers when they saw it in the dressing room.

“Congratulations, Sunbae-nim.”

“Thank you. …Oh, thank you, LisaLover.”

Lisa smiled and looked happy as Minki Hyung handed her a ribboned cookie.

“Good job.”

“Good work, guys!”

They exchanged greetings after the broadcast ended.

The staff had bright expressions unlike the previous ones that were filled with anxiety and nervousness about the ratings.

As the saying goes, generosity comes from a spacious barn, and the production team’s generosity came from the generous ratings.

They were saying goodbye with happy faces when it happened.

“Hey, guys.”

A pleasant voice called them as they walked down the hallway with enthusiasm. They turned their heads and saw a giant man in their eyes.

“Oh, Sunbae-nim.”

It was Cha Woohyun.

The senior singer who came in second today approached them with big strides and said bluntly, “I have something to ask you.”